Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Tariffs’ effects on costs and shipping have a multi-month delay due the time it takes to ship and businesses stocking up on goods before the tariffs.
The tariffs are very costly, and the unpredictability causes chaos and inefficiencies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33kfpNiiAmo
“”Trivium Packaging, a manufacturer of steel and aluminum containers…has shelved any expansion plans in the US for now, and the only hiring happening at its five US plants is to fill in staff losses due to attrition” because of the increased cost of the imported metal on which it relies, according to an April 17 Bloomberg report. Trivium was just one of the companies profiled in the article that “are putting hiring and expansion plans on hold while they come up with short-term plans to cope with the tariffs.”
Consumers are also changing their behavior in response to the trade war. Americans initially flocked to buy cars to beat anticipated price hikes. Purchases slowed as the expected price increases materialized, spurring the Trump administration this week to carve out some tariff relief for automakers.
But the same factors driving concerns about prices and availability regarding cars affect every other industry. According to the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book report on economic conditions, “uncertainty around international trade policy was pervasive” and “non-auto consumer spending was lower overall.”
Additionally, “several Districts reported that firms were taking a wait-and-see approach to employment, pausing or slowing hiring until there is more clarity on economic conditions” and “there were scattered reports of firms preparing for layoffs.”
Importantly, added the Beige Book analysis, “firms reported adding tariff surcharges or shortening pricing horizons to account for uncertain trade policy. Most businesses expected to pass through additional costs to customers.”
Basically, businesses and consumers alike are slowing spending and taking a wait-and-see attitude as they anticipate higher prices and economic disruption from the Trump administration’s protectionist policies. Americans expect the tariffs to be painful and they’re not happy about it.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/30/americans-doubt-trumps-trade-war-will-benefit-them/
“”Well, they did sign up for it, actually. And this is what I campaigned on,” Trump said of the tariffs during an interview with ABC News that aired Tuesday.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-says-voters-unhappy-about-the-economy-and-his-china-trade-war-should-deal-with-it-because-they-did-sign-up-for-it-actually/ar-AA1DT0jh?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=b8851a238f384a6bb573752bf60cc090&ei=17
Comedian makes fun of Trump’s obvious incompetence and false promises.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYS70hxsPME
Tariffs are hurting the Chinese economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP3hpt8YAS0
From Fake Eyelashes to Care Bears, U.S.-Bound Goods Are Stuck in Tariff Limbo
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fake-eyelashes-care-bears-u-030000313.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-had-test-case-trade-105010697.html
“He’s insisting on one-on-one talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping — and this has stifled other diplomatic efforts to halt the worsening trade war between the two global powers.
The president won’t authorize White House delegates to engage with Chinese officials in Beijing about a detente, according to two former senior State Department officials and an industry official, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing discussions. The Senate has yet to confirm an ambassador to China; Trump has not appointed anyone else to lead talks with Beijing; and the White House isn’t reaching out to the Chinese embassy to begin discussions.
The absence of any substantial outreach has frozen meaningful communications between the two countries and threatened the likelihood of a near-term solution.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/19/trump-xi-china-trade-negotiations-00299645
“If an African government wants strong relations with Washington, including future development assistance, it must pay up in other ways — ranging from giving access to minerals to accepting deportees, Trump backers told me.”
…
“Trump and his team are fast-tracking efforts to achieve a goal that other U.S. presidents, including his four immediate Democratic and Republican predecessors, articulated to varying degrees — to shift the nature of the U.S. relationship with Africa. Each saw some progress, but none was willing to slash aid so deeply and suddenly.
The overwhelming sense among African officials is that they need to pony up what they can to effectively buy Trump’s love — the transactionalism for which he’s well known.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is offering access to critical minerals in exchange for U.S. help battling rebel forces; Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, was named recently to a role looking into such potential deals in the DRC and other African countries. And Somalia has offered the U.S. operational control over certain ports.
Angola will likely keep U.S. backing for the Lobito Corridor, a rail project that can help the U.S. access minerals. Togo, which is touting its track record in quietly mediating some African conflicts, could also see continued U.S. support, according to a former U.S. official familiar with African diplomatic circles. (A Togo official did not respond to questions about the mediation pitch.)
Some African nations will have an easier time staying on the U.S. radar simply because of their political sway on the continent (hey there, Kenya and Ethiopia), importance to energy markets (Nigeria) or other one-off reasons. Some are more financially and politically able to absorb the shock of losing U.S. aid than others. But some will have little to offer for Washington’s benefit, and they may choose to side with U.S. adversaries on the global stage — whether at the United Nations or in a war.
At least one, South Africa, is likely to be in the cold for a long time under Trump. The president’s team is infuriated by South Africa’s foreign policy choices, especially its diplomatic attacks on Israel, and accuses South Africa’s government of persecuting white Afrikaners. Trump has recently kicked out South Africa’s ambassador in Washington and set up a refugee program for white Afrikaners. South African officials insist Trump is misrepresenting them, especially on the Afrikaner issue.”
…
“Africans are already dying because of the U.S. aid cuts, and there’s been an outcry, mainly among Democrats, over the scaling down of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — aka PEPFAR, the George W. Bush-era health initiative that has funded HIV/AIDS treatments on the African continent.
Still, people in Trump’s orbit are not moved by such anecdotes or data, seeing them as parts of tired arguments that have prevented a needed, radical change in U.S. ties with Africa. One person pointed out that the “E” in PEPFAR stands for “emergency.” Yet the program is now more than two decades old.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/17/trump-us-africa-relationship-column-00293046
“At the end of the day, protectionism is rooted in fear and pessimism: fear that we’ll be outcompeted, and pessimism about the idea that a growing, dynamic economy can make us all better off. Libertarians are fond of making just such claims—so fond that Cass coined a term to mock us for it. Instead of tussling over the size of different constituencies’ relative shares of the fixed economic pie, the libertarian view is that our goal should be to grow the pie so everyone’s share is bigger. Cass calls this “economic piety,” and he rejects it. For him, the goal is not to grow the economy; it’s to direct the economy for the benefit of deserving constituencies such as blue-collar workers.
This is pure zero-sum thinking. It cements in place a mindset where one group’s gains necessarily come at some other group’s expense. To libertarians, technological innovation is a boon because it makes the whole economy more productive and everyone richer in the long run. But some people usually are hurt in the short run—think of the proverbial buggy-whip salesmen when automobiles come along. Protectionists are inclined to be suspicious of the tech sector and sympathetic toward policies that would tamp down economic dynamism in the name of protecting the would-be losers. The result, inevitably, is stagnation.”
https://reason.com/2025/03/01/trumps-dramatic-crossroads/